Resorbable surgical suture

ABSTRACT

A resorbable catgut surgical suture impregnated with a liquid silicone, such as dimethylpolysiloxane.

United States Patent 7 [1 1 Mirkovitch [s41 RESORBABLE SURGICAL SUTURE [75] Inventor: Velimir Mirkovitch, Pully, Switzerland [73] Assignee: SUTRAMED S.a.r.L., La Neuveville, Canton of Bern, Switzerland [22] Filed: Dec. 21, 1970 [2]] Appl. No.: 100,451

[30] I 1 Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 26, 1969 7 Switzerland, ..19216- [52] US. Cl ..128/335.5, 1 17/141 [51] Int. Cl. ..A611 17/00, D06m 3/02 [58] Field of Search ..l28/335.5; 117/141,

117/161.3 A, 126 GS, 139.5 CO

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1959 Bulletal. I/l955 ..1 17/ 139.5 Guenther ..1 17/139.5 X

[1 1 3,729,007 45] Apr.

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 913,158 12/1962 Great Britain ..l28/335.5

OTHER PUBLICATIONS Hackhs Chemical Dictionary, J. Grant, 4th Ed., 1969,

Primary Examiner-William D. Martin Assistant Examiner-l-Iarry J. Gwinnell Attorney-Silverman & Cass [5 7] ABSTRACT A tesorbable catgut surgical suture impregnated with a liquid silicone, such as dimethylpolysiloxane.

2 Claims, No Drawings RESORBABLE SURGICAL SUTURE The present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a nonresorbable surgical suture, wherein the thread comprising the said suture is impregnated with silicone by dipping the thread into a bath of liquid silicone in the absence of any solvent.

The invention relates also to the resorbable surgical suture obtained by carrying out the above-mentioned method.

It is known to treat nonresorbable surgical sutures, more particularly silk threads, by means of silicone, using so called dry methods that is to say methods, in which the suture, once it has been treated by means of silicone, remains dry. These methods use solvents by means of which the silicone is more readily deposited on the nonresorbable sutures, these solvents being then evaporated, the silicone remaining in a dry condition on the surface of the thread.

The advantages of the threads which are treated in this way with respect to the threads which have not been treated are small.

The whole purpose of the present invention is to furnish a method for treating a thread of a resorbable surgical suture, impregnating the same with silicone whereby the resulting thread has at least all the expected advantages of the silicone and additional unexpected advantages, as well.

ln the preferred way of carrying-out the method according to the invention, the thread constituting the resorbable surgical suture, such as cat-gut, is dipped into a bath of dimethylpolysiloxane, the viscosity of which is 350 cs. maintained at a temperature of 40 C, during 2 hours.

Once removed from this bath and drained, the suture also remains wet by the solution which does not dry.

Experience has shown that the sutures which have been treated this way present a tolerance and a resistance which are increased. They are more malleable and slip better on use. Moreover, they can be very easily sterilized, especially by means of gas or by irradiacan vary to a large extent: thus, according to the viscosity of the product used, which can vary from 20 to 1,000 cs., for example, the duration of the dipping step can vary from some hours to some days, for exampie 1 week. The temperature of the bath during the dipping step can vary from room temperature to C Finally, in lieu of dimethylpolysiloxane, one could use other liquid silicones for the treatment of the suture according to the invention, but always in the absence of any solvent.

What I claim is l. A rapidly resorbable suture thread comprising a resorbable catgut suture thread impregnated with liquid silicone rendering the resultant thread more rapidly resorbable in human tissue than a non-1mpregnated resorbable catgut suture thread.

2. A surgical suture as defined in claim 1 wherein the silicone is dimethylpolysiloxane. 

2. A surgical suture as defined in claim 1 wherein the silicone is dimethylpolysiloxane. 